Hemingway and his standing desk

Forget Churchill–why sit when you can stand? Ernest Hemingway recognized the value of not plopping down on the old butt all day and often stood while writing on his typewriter. An introduction to a 1958 interview with the author in the Paris Review talked about Hemingway’s penchant for standing.

A working habit he has had from the beginning, Hemingway stands when he writes. He stands in a pair of his oversized loafers on the worn skin of a lesser kudu — the typewriter and the reading board chest-high opposite him.